Senator Percy E. Downe (Charlottetown)

Prince Edward Islanders Expect Equal Treatment

At $3.50 per kilometer, the Confederation Bridge must surely be the most expensive drive in the country. While Prince Edward Islanders continue to pay high tolls on the Wood Island Ferry Service and the Confederation Bridge, Leader of the Opposition Thomas Mulcair has promised that should he form the government after the next election, there will be no tolls on the new $5 billion Champlain Bridge in Montreal.

Justin Trudeau has yet to state a public position, but given that he and Mr. Mulcair are both MPs from Montreal, we can assume political pressure is building to match the NDP’s position. Prime Minister Harper has announced that his government will follow the long-standing user pay policy for major infrastructure projects and will impose a toll to cover construction and maintenance costs.

Islanders cannot afford to ignore the precedent that would be set by a “toll-free” Champlain Bridge. The fees we must pay to use the bridges and ferries that connect our province to the mainland are a considerable barrier to anyone seeking to travel, grow tourism or move goods to market. Currently, we pay a $45.50 toll fee for automobiles to cross the Confederation Bridge, which cost over $1 billion to build.

If Montreal ends up getting a $5 billion bridge, paid for by the Government of Canada with no tolls, why would we continue to pay any toll on our bridge or ferry service? Quebec officials are using the next federal election to push for a benefit for their citizens. Prince Edward Islanders don’t need an election in order to demand equality, but that is exactly what we will expect.

When our province joined Confederation in 1873, the Terms of Union required that the Government of Canada be responsible for assuming and defraying the costs of efficient and “continuous communication” for the conveyance of mail and passengers between the Island and the mainland. Subsequently, the 1993 amendment to the Constitution clarified “a fixed crossing joining the Island to the mainland may be substituted for the steam service” referred to in the terms of union, and also noted that “nothing in this Schedule prevents the imposition of tolls for the use of such a fixed crossing between the Island and the mainland, or the private operation of such a crossing.” Islanders understood, given the existing user pay policy, that if we wanted a bridge to replace the year-round ferry service, we had to agree to a constitutional amendment that included a toll, but if the rules are now being changed, then Islanders should also benefit from the elimination of ferry and bridge tolls in our province.

When Confederation Bridge was constructed, the arrangement was that Strait Crossing Ltd. would pay for its construction through a complex financing arrangement that relies in part on annual payments from the federal government to retire bonds that were sold to raise the bulk of the over $1 billion price tag. The federal government passed the Northumberland Strait Crossing Act in 1993, guaranteeing annual payments over 35 years to bondholders, an amount that equals the annual subsidy for the constitutionally-required “continuous communication” of the ferry service that was replaced by the bridge. In turn, Strait Crossing is entitled to all toll revenue for the first 35 years the bridge is in operation, at which point operational control and revenue rights revert to the Federal Government.

It is important to note that nowhere in the 1993 Constitutional amendment is it written that the Confederation Bridge, which is built to last at least 100 years, has to be paid off in 35 years. A short term solution to reduce tolls would be to increase the amortization period.

The federal opposition leaders, the Premier of Quebec and the Mayor of Montreal have all supported a toll-free bridge in Montreal, and we will need to watch this issue closely during the upcoming federal election, after all, what’s fair for the St. Lawrence River is fair for the Northumberland Strait.

Percy Downe is a Senator from Charlottetown.